STAYING ON THE RIGHT ROAD

BIBLE PASSAGE:
“Blessed is the man You discipline, O Lord,
the man You teach from Your law.”
(Psalm 94:12)

MEDITATION:
If you enjoy being disciplined, raise your hand. No hands raised?
If you feel that discipline is good for your children, raise your
hand. Lots of hands in the air.

Why do we feel that discipline is good for our children? It helps
them to know where the boundaries are, doesn’t it? Without any
discipline, they would be confused about how far they can with
their disobedience and doing the wrong things.

If there are no boundaries, then children will most likely continue
being disobedient and doing wrong things. Although they may not
realize it, they want try to find the limits of what they are allowed
to do or not do. In addition, without discipline, their disobedience
will continue and possibly get worse.

We do our children an injustice when we fail to provide them with
the discipline they need. Without it, they can develop a pattern of
‘living without limits’ which can put them in danger of getting hurt
when they are small, and possibly cause them to make their own
rules when they are older.

Discipline teaches our children respect – respect for others and
respect for the laws of the land. They learn are consequences to
the things they do, or don’t do. If our children cannot depend on
us to establish the boundaries for them, they may very well find
someone else to show them the limits, which could be much more
liberal than what is safe and reasonable for them.

Parental discipline is a team effort and should never be left as
the responsibility of only one parent. Why? Because that one
parent may not be around them when they need discipline, so
the other parent has a responsibility to ‘fill the gap’.

Some parents will say things like,
    “Wait until you mother gets home”,
  or
    “Wait until your father gets home”.
However, the discipline needs to be applied at the time they
are disobedient, so they can understand their actions will
have consequences.

One of the main reasons we discipline our children is because
we love them. We don’t want to see them get hurt in any way,
and we don’t want to see them live a life with the idea that
there are no rules.

Discipline is not an enjoyable action by parents because we want
to be friends with our children. However, we can be friends with
them and enjoy the fun times, but there will be times when we 
are required to be a parent to them as well.

God also disciplines those He loves. He wants us to understand
there are limits to what we should do and not do. If God didn’t
discipline us, then we would not understand the importance of
staying within the boundaries He has established for those who
are members of His family. Without knowing His limits, we will
establish our own rules and fail to respect God’s laws.

The Psalmist gives us a proper perspective of God’s discipline:
    “Before I was afflicted, I went astray;
      but now have I kept Thy word”
      (Psalm 119:67)
David learned the importance of obeying God after he suffered
great sorrow and a lot of afflictions.

When God sees us straying and becoming disobedient, He loves
us enough to ‘get our attention’ and guide us back to obeying
His laws, instead of continuing to live by our rules.

Why would He do that? Because He knows what is best for us,
He desires fellowship with His family, and He wants to bless us
for being obedient. God doesn’t want us to go down a destructive
path which will damage (and possibly separate us from) our love
relationship with Him. He doesn’t want to see us hurt ourselves,
or for us to be hurt by others as a result of bad choices.

When we discipline our children, we hope that they will learn
from their punishment and will establish better guidelines for
themselves. God has the same desire for His children. If our
own limits are wrong and too wide, then His discipline is one
way to help us shrink our boundaries, so they will align with
the ones He has established for us.

Of course, Satan will tempt us to resent God’s efforts to help us
and he will encourage us to resist and rebel when we receive any
discipline. We need to avoid the traps of the evil one, and focus
on the benefits of being disciplined by God.

We should be thankful that God loves us enough to help us with
our limits and our obedience. God’s wants to help us, not harm
us, but He may have to harm us, in order to help us. He wants us
to spend an eternity with Him, and He may have to use some drastic
measures to ensure we will. Look at these words from the Lord.
    For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the
    Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you,
    plans to give you hope and a future.
    (Jeremiah 29:11)

From this verse, we can see God’s concern for our well-being and
how He has plans (good plans) for everyone who is a member of
His family. Think about that – God has a plan for you! We know
of the goodness of God, so we know that His plan for our lives is
good, and will be beneficial to us, and those around us.

Look at these words in Hebrews (Note: ‘son’ includes daughters):
    “And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons?
    ‘My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary
    when reproved by Him. For the Lord disciplines the one He loves, and
    chastises every son whom He receives.’ It is for discipline that you have
    to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his
    father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which
    all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.
    Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we
    respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of
    spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed
    best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, that we may share His
    holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant,
    but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been
    trained by it.”
    (Hebrews 12:5-11)

God’s discipline comes from His great love for us. It is a confirmation
of His adoption of us as children. He loves us too much to allow us to
remain in our sin. He loves us so much that He will do whatever is
necessary to make us holy. Sometimes the medicine must taste bad,
but that doesn’t change the fact that the physician knows it is for
our good.

While discipline is sometimes painful, God’s purpose in disciplining
us is for our own good, and for our holiness. The ultimate goal for a
Christian is to be sanctified, which is to be conformed to the image
and likeness of Jesus.
    And we know that in all things God works for
    the good of those who love him, who have been
    called according to his purpose.
    (Romans 8:28-30)

If we truly love Him, then we will have an inner desire to obey Him,
(even during the times when we are being disobedient). If we feel 
we have lost our desire to fellowship with God, and our disobedience 
is out of control, then we probably need to give serious thoughts about
our relationship with Him.

Whenever we no longer feel guilt for our disobedience, or we start
justifying our actions, we should become alarmed and evaluate our
status as a member of God’s family. God’s discipline is not merely
corrective, but it also is used for training.
    Make every effort to live in peace with everyone
    and to be holy; without holiness no one will see
    the Lord.
    (Hebrews 12:14)

    For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people,
    training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live
    self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for
    our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and
    Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all
    lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession
    who are zealous for good works.
    (Titus 2:11-14)

ACTION:
Are you going through a tough time right now? Have you
considered that God may be using your experience to draw
you closer to Him? Do you still have feelings of guilt when
you disobey God? Do you justify your actions when you do
things that God does not approve of, or when you fail to do
the things you know He is asking you to do?

Pray.
“Heavenly Father, thank You for loving me enough to be
involved in my life. Thank You for helping me to better
understand the benefits of obeying Your rules and staying
within Your boundaries. Whenever I stray from the limits
You have established, or I rebel at the things You want me
to do, I pray that You will give me feelings of guilt that will
guide me back to being obedient to You. Help me to focus
on the benefits of Your discipline and to be a good parent
for the children You have given to me. Help me to take my
parental responsibilities seriously, and to show my children
the proper boundaries they need to establish for themselves.
I pray that they will see that I have established Your limits
for myself, so that my example may lead them to You.”

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